Mobile pick-up balers for hay or other crops which have been windrowed as well known in the art and an example of the prior art is present in U.S. Pat. No. 3,525,204, issued Aug. 25, 1970, to J. A. Dovichak. Balers of this type are pulled forwardly by a towing vehicle while their pick-up mechanisms are caused to follow a hay windrow or the like. The pick-up mechanism involves counter-rotating teeth or tines which elevate the hay from the windrow and delivers it rearwardly to a transverse axis auger which feeds the hay through a feed opening of a longitudinally extending bale case.
Difficulties are encountered with pick-up balers of the above type particularly when the hay windrow is not uniform, is too thick, or when the hay is too short or has been cut with a rotary mower. In such instances, the counter-rotating pick-up teeth of the forwardly moving baler may kick or tumble a large amount of hay forwardly of the machine rather than picking it up directly. This in turn causes the hay to pile up in the windrow and some hay will fall to either side and be lost. Such lost hay can only be reclaimed by reraking which represents additional labor and cost to the farmer.
The object of the present invention is to provide a very simple attachment device for pick-up balers which will enhance the efficiency thereof by preventing loss of hay and allowing the picking up and baling of the maximum amount of hay regardless of the uniformity of the windrow, whether thick or thin, and regardless of whether the hay or other crop is relatively long or short in stalk length. In any case, the invention will prevent the windrowed hay from being kicked forwardly ahead of the pick-up mechanism or from rolling forwardly and being lost to one side or the other of the windrow and baler. The floating cylinder attachment will hold the hay down in the windrow ahead of the counter-rotating pick-up teeth and will tend to funnel the hay upwardly with the counter-rotating teeth in a continuous and efficient flow pattern. The cylinder attachment is floating and therefore self-adjusting in height as when the windrow is very thick.
The attachment also serves as a visual indicator means which the operator may watch during the advancement of the baler. If he notices the support rods lifting four or five inches above their supporting bar, this will indicate a thick windrow and he can slow down the ground speed of the machine and thus prevent an overfeed of hay into the auger chamber.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent during the course of the following detailed description.